White House Orders Review Of Solyndra Loan Guarantees
WASHINGTON (CBS/AP) — The White House is ordering a review of loan guarantees made by the Energy Department after a California solar company that got a half-billion-dollar federal loan went bankrupt.
Congressional Republicans have been investigating the bankruptcy of Solyndra Inc. amid revelations that federal officials were warned it had problems but nonetheless continued to support it. The House Energy and Commerce Committee could vote as early next week to subpoena White House records related to the loan.
White House chief of staff Bill Daley says the new independent review will assess the condition of other loan guarantees made by the Energy Department. There are more than two dozen of these to a variety of clean energy companies.
CBS13 has learned that automatic tax breaks may have contributed to the scandal surrounding Solyndra.
California taxpayers may suffer a double hit – because of a deal allowing Solyndra to purchase new solar equipment – while paying no sales tax. It gave the company a $25 million tax break – in sales tax revenue that California will never collect.
"You may lose some money if a firm like Solyndra goes bankrupt," noted California Treasurer Bill Lockyer. "People need to understand what the risks are – that there's risk of losses," Lockyer added. He wants to suspend sales tax exemptions for solar firms – and other alternative energy resources – until California tax payers are better protected.
"No one anticipated the Chinese flooding the market with cheap product," Lockyer told CBS13.
Solyndra's solar panels were just too expensive to compete in the market place, despite spending $250 million on equipment.
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